London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- U.S. President Barack Obama failed to keep his 2008 election promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp at a U.S. naval base in Cuba because the world had stopped watching . Europeans , delighted at his election and pledge to abandon Bush-era torture practices that had sullied the U.S. reputation worldwide , assumed that he would do what he said was going to do . It has taken three years to realise that he missed his self-imposed deadline .

For many that realization has been brought about by the Guantanamo detainees themselves , who unable to voice their despair in any other way are now on hunger strike in large numbers . Even the U.S. military now admits that more than 50 of the 166 detainees in the camp are now involved . In reality , the number is much higher : Reprieve understands , through unclassified phone calls with our clients , that more than 130 are now on hunger strike .

These include men with close ties to Europe : Shaker Aamer is a Londoner , a UK resident with a British wife and four British kids living in the capital . He has been cleared for release twice -- by both the Bush and Obama administrations . Successive British governments have called for him to be returned home . Yet he is still in Guantanamo , more than a decade on from being taken into U.S. custody . A fortnight ago , he told his lawyer , Reprieve 's Clive Stafford Smith , that he had joined the hunger strike and had already lost over 30 pounds in weight . `` I ca n't read . I am dizzy and I fall down all the time , '' he said , adding `` My back and my neck are getting worse day by day . I do n't want the end of this torture here to be paralyzed . I want to carry my kids when I get home . ''

Nabil Hadjarab 's father and grandfather both fought for the French army . He longs to return to his family in France -- his uncle , Ahmad Hadjarab , has said : `` I am asking America for humanity , and asking France for gratitude . '' But so far Nabil has had neither -- he has now lost so much weight that he is being force-fed by Guantanamo personnel , strapped to a chair while a tube is pushed up his nose and down his throat -- an intensely painful process that has been described by the World Medical Association as inhuman and degrading treatment . Nabil has been cleared for release since 2007 -- yet over five years on from U.S. authorities deciding that he is no threat to anyone , he still languishes in Guantanamo . On Wednesday night on an unclassified call with his lawyer he told her he had `` lost all hope of ever being released . ''

Another detainee , Younus Chekkouri hopes one day to be reunited with his family in Germany . He too has joined the hunger strike . On a recent unclassified call , he told Reprieve : `` The nightmare has started again . For some time , things had got a bit better here ... but now it has changed again ... really , now it is just pain everywhere . I do n't want to die in Guantanamo . '' Like Shaker and Nabil , Younus has never been given a trial or charged with any crime , and has been cleared for release by the U.S. authorities .

There are many more in Guantanamo like these men -- stuck in a limbo with no apparent end , adrift from even the most basic principles of the rule of law . The hope which rose on the election of President Obama , who promised to close Guantanamo , now seems like a cruel joke . It is easy to understand the desperation they must feel : as Shaker himself put it recently , `` a little over 50 % of the prisoners have been told they can go home -- or go somewhere -- but -LSB- they -RSB- are still here . ''

On Thursday the European Parliament tabled an urgent hearing on the hunger strike in Guantanamo . The debate is welcome . It is crucial that Europe realises that this is not just a U.S. issue -- it is our problem as well . European intelligence services worked closely with the U.S. in implementing the misguided policies of the so-called `` War on Terror '' that saw so many innocent men swept up , `` rendered '' and tortured , simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time . Europe has tolerated for too long the U.S. departure from the rule of law with regard to people who deserve the support of European governments .

It must be hoped that this debate is a first step towards remedying this . There is much to welcome in the motion : a call for Europe to re-engage , to demand the closure of Guantanamo , and , crucially , to offer to resettle the dozen or so prisoners who have been cleared for release but can not go home because of the risk of torture . If Europe follows through on this , there will still be hope that one day soon , men like Shaker , Nabil and Younous will be reunited with their families .

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Polly Rossdale .

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U.S. President Barack Obama promised in 2008 to close Guantanamo Bay

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Reprieve : It has taken three years to realize he missed his self-imposed deadline

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U.S. admits more than 50 of 166 detainees in camp are on hunger strike - media reports

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European parliament is debating the hunger strikes at the camp